Psycho Talia
by thefirecrest
Summary: Alfred Jones is the newest Inspector in the PSD and as his past unfolds before you darker secrets are revealed. Mysteries like fallen Inspector Arthur Kirkland and the ever elusive and dangerous killer Bonnefoy leave Alfred lost at every corner. But he is determined to succeed and avenge the death of his loving brother. That is, given he doesn't fall or die along the way. Gen.
1. Chapter 1 - Morbid Masterpiece

Note: Please ignore all underlined words. This was a vocabulary assignment for my English class and these are my vocab words.

Chapter 1  
Morbid Masterpiece

It was an abstract work of art.

With limbs twisted in and out into an intricate pattern. The gentle curves of each rounded edge was lined with a sense of softness despite being hard to the touch. Truly it was a beautiful piece of art sculpted by expert hands. And Alfred felt sick even thinking this morbid monstrosity was anything near beautiful.

"Absolutely disgusting."

Inspector Arthur Kirkland stepped up next to Alfred and took a deep drag from his cigarette causing the younger blonde to wince.

"Put that out Artie," he sighed. "It's really bad for your health." He paused for a moment and continued, "Besides, it'll ruin the evidence with all that smoke."

The Brit shot him a cold glare but seemed to see the verity of Alfred's argument and reluctantly threw the fag down and stomped it out into the concrete. The mood turned sour, even more so than before, and a silence fell on the two Inspectors.

The horrifying masterpiece before them was donned in beautiful and extricate flowers. At the center of it all was a human figure, as naked as the day they were born, her lifeless eyes stared with a sense of stoicism out at the two men. There were no visible wounds, the _artist _must've deemed the gore too unpleasant to the final product, but the victim's head was decapitated and sat innocently in the center of her out reaching palms. Her smooth white legs were gently wrapped around each other as if there existed no bones. Everything was perfectly placed and preserved. Each flower and leaf dipped in some chemical compound that kept it fresh as the day they were picked. The girl herself must've sat in a vat of it for _days _because she was so perfectly still and unmoving. No entity could touch her. It was as if time itself couldn't reach her. And her skin, which would've been soft, warm, _alive _at one point now stood as hard and cold as marble.

"Do we have a profile on the girl yet?" Arthur said after several minutes of silence.

Alfred squirmed under the corpse's eyes and took this chance to look away. He turned to the more seasoned Inspector, "Yeah. Hold on." A simple click on his wrist communicator and a holographic screen popped up in front of him. Another few clicks and a picture and information of the girl appeared. His cerulean eyes ran across the hovering screen carefully taking in the information, a light frown came to his lips. "Her name was Mei Wang. A seventeen-year-old student attending Rosemary Academy and she's… Oh damn…"

It was Arthur's turn to frown; he looked over at the blonde questionably. "What is it?"

"Ms. Mei is the adopted daughter of Mr. Yao Wang," the blonde spoke shakily.

"Yao Wang?"

Alfred's eyes widened at him, "You don't know who he is?" Another glare shot at him. "He's like… A famous entrepreneur who owns a lot of stocks and companies around the country. Don't you watch the news?"

"I don't have to watch that crap they put on," the Brit hissed. "Everything they put on these days is nothing but useless nonsense. Before we had real things. Real books, real TV, real food-"

"Artie! I don't think you're getting the point here," Alfred cut in quickly before the other blonde went on another one of his technology rants again. "The point is that if this is his daughter…" He looked over at the lifeless girl. "Then we can expect some trouble in the future."

"I'll say," Arthur snorted. "Don't you think this situation is a bit fishy anyways?"

"How so?"

The older blonde sighed, "Use your head lad. Is this Yao Wang's daughter is missing then some sort of announcement would've been made right?" He looked at the corpse. "Judging by this she's been gone for at least a week, long enough for anyone to notice."

Alfred frowned, "Are you trying to say Yao Wang did it?" He supposed the conjecture made sense, but it was so… Loose.

"No, no you git!" The senior Inspector groaned. "Common. _Really _use your head. Mei Wang attended Rosemary Academy yes? Now think. This is a famous Academy known for…"

"…Keeping girls free from the influences of modern day technology." Alfred finished.

"Good. So this is an all girls Academy who prides themselves in keeping the daughters of rich tycoons around the world pure and untainted. Purport if word got out that one of their students went missing..."

"… then… People would stop sending their daughters there?"

"Exactly," Arthur gave him a predatory grin. "Something is going on at Rosemary Academy. Someone is covering up these murders. And I bet you anything that the murderer is in that school."

Alfred nodded, "Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. So uh… When you said 'bet you anything' would you treat me to McDonalds after this case?" He smiled brightly.

Arthur felt himself twitch; it was always McDonalds with this idiot even when they were doing important things like solving a case. Nothing was ever relevant when Alfred was talking. Glaring at the younger man he grimaced and turned swiftly on his heel then proceeded to walk away.

Alfred watch with amused eyes as his senior officer walked away with his head held high even though he was obviously annoyed. He let out a chuckle and began to follow Arthur towards their transport. The blonde slowly looked back at the frozen body of Mei Wong and a sense of sadness came over the usually dogmatic man. He gave one final and silent farewell before the drones would come and take the girl away for a further autopsy. With that done he walked over to Arthur who was already waiting in the vehicle with an impatient look on his face.

"Let's go."

Clearly something was going on here. It was fishy and smelled of deceit and deception. The principle himself was sweating buckets as he led them around school. He kept trying to refute all of their reasons to enter and investigate the staff and students. His reluctance to let them actually _into _a school building was even worse. Not just because they couldn't complete their case but it was mostly because Arthur simply couldn't contain his horrifying temper.

He looked like he was going to shoot the poor man.

This was not going to end well.

"Please," the bumbling principle said nervously. "The students here are very fragile. We're trying to keep a panic from happening-"

"Oh _please_ cut that utter bull," Arthur snapped loudly. "That's not pertinent to the subject at hand! Do you know that we found the _dead _body of one of your students?"

If possible the principle became even sweatier and more nervous which cause the Inspector to become even more agitated. "P-please sir. Do keep your voice down… If our students heard-"

"We are here to _investigate _your students Mr. Orokana. Though perhaps I should investigate _you _considering that refuse to cooperate." Arthur narrowed his poison green eyes in one of his famous death glares, "In fact, all things considering, you would make a rather apposite suspect yourself."

The man paled at the blatant threat.

The blonde man grimaced at his cowardice behavior, "Now please _kindly _allow us entrance into your school so that we may scan your students and staff for their 'criminal-capacity'."

Finally the principle seemed to get the crux of the situation, or perhaps just the threat to his own livelihood, but either way he was quick to allow them access to the main school building then quickly scampered off.

The pair of Inspectors began to walk down the halls of the school with their 'Dominators' drawn. This particular device acted as both a weapon and scanner at the same time. Normally the gun would be locked and the authorized user unable to fire it. Then the scanner would measure the person, a dominator was pointed at, for their criminal-capacity hue. Then it would call off a number and anyone of a CC of over 100 would cause the gun to unlock and allow for restraining stuns to be fired at the target. However, if the system the dominators ran on deemed the person's hue to be over 300, far beyond the point of redemption, then the gun would transform again into a mode called 'Lethal-eliminator' in which the target would be killed upon shooting.

Luckily for the both of them these girls were kept from technology for a majority of their lives. Modern weapons like these would probably be unknown to the students here.

"So. Artie," Alfred called out to his partner. "What do you think? Teacher or student?"

Arthur looked over at the younger blonde and thought for a moment, "A teacher would make more sense considering the students would have a hard time getting out of the school to actually place the corpse. However, I think that is just a specious conclusion that anyone could come up with. My gut is telling me a student is responsible for this murder."

A gut feeling. Alfred thought in cognation about that for a moment. A lot of their detective work was made with carefully crafted inductions but there was just something about a gut feeling when Arthur got one that made him know they were on the right track. The older man was like a wolf sometimes, his gut was his nose, and he just picked up on a scent.

"So," Arthur continued. "Predicate on that idea I'd say our first place to visit would be the art room."

It wasn't hard to snag a teacher willing to show them the way after they saw their dominators. Alfred never really like the intimidation factor but it never failed to work wonders.

They stood outside the art room, the light inside was on and light music could be heard floating out of it, ergo, someone was probably inside.

"One the count to three then?" Alfred whispered to Arthur.

The Brit rolled his eyes but nodded anyways.

"Alright!" The younger man whispered excitedly. They both looked each other in the eye, green and blue clashing. "One." Alfred mouthed.

"Two." Replied Arthur silently.

"Three!"

The door burst open and both of them jumped in with their dominators pointed forwards. "Freeze!" Alfred called, "We're with the PSD, please surrender so we may take your criminal-capacity!"

There were only two people in the room, an older student who sat in front of a canvas painting. Her brown eyes widened in surprise and shock at them. Her hand stopped in mid-stroke. Alfred took in her painting and immediately knew that Arthur's gut feeling was right. On the canvas was a painting of a nude Mei Wang with jagged lines streaking over her limbs. Particularly her between her head and shoulders. He quickly pointed his dominator at her and after a moment the female voice operator beeped out a calm 348 and he felt the gun transform into its lethal mode. Though he was glad that they caught the perpetrator the idea of killing an adolescent girl didn't sit right with him.

However, it seemed that Arthur wasn't even paying attention to her.

Alfred frowned when he realized this and quickly followed the other's gaze.

At the very back of the room stood a teacher with white-blonde hair holding a book and casually watching them despite the situation. In fact, he almost seemed to be smirking at the pair.

Alfred felt his hands tremble then before he even recognized the man. His body reacting before he did. The dominator suddenly felt a thousand times heavier in his hands. Slowly he turned the gun away from the girl and towards the smirking teacher even as the student jumped from her seat and sprinted out of the classroom. Because this was it. They finally found _him._

His dominator scanned the teacher and faintly beeped out the lowest crime-capacity, _zero. _Because this man wasn't normal. He was the anomaly in the system. The same man who, no matter what crime he committed and no matter who he killed in cold blood, didn't register any sign but being a perfect citizen in the eyes of their so called _"perfect" _grading system.

This was also the same man who killed his younger brother.

A/N: This was an assignment for my English Class so please ignore all the underlined words; they are my vocab words.

I really enjoyed writing this and because I get a new assignment every week or two hopefully I'll be able to update this consistently. :) Hope you enjoyed.


	2. Chapter 2 - Burning Memories

Chapter 2  
Burning Memories

Rosemary Academy was put under deep reconnoiter.

After the discovery of the young girl (Name: Angelique Laroche) who was confirmed as the killer when her finger prints was discovered in a old forgotten boiler room somewhere in the school where the corpses of two other students were discovered in another macabre masterpiece, it was clear that there was a bigger master mind behind this sinister plot. That master mind whom Alfred was sure was that man disguised as a teacher.

However both Angelique and the man had gotten away.

And that probably hurt more than anything.

The investigation team had quickly taken to assay the school's record system in search of the teacher everyone in the school called "Professor Francis Bonnefoy" only to come up once again empty. The only teacher that came up with that name was an old man that the entire staff swore they've never seen before. Further investigation proved that the old man was a gay linguist named Berwald Oxenstierna studying philology who lived a crime-free life with his loving husband Tino Vainamoinen over 300 miles away.

None of this helped Alfred who felt like he was still going through a mini-shock attack after seeing that monster's face again. In his mind that horrible memory he's tried so hard to suppress kept surfacing and tormenting him. And also because he sat in his bed, by himself, in an apartment that was meant for two.

And oh how that memory kept playing that a broken record right before his eyes.

_Arthur was once again gone. Running off to __plumb__ that abyss that threatened to overtake the man and turn him into something more horrible than the monsters he chased after. After all as the saying went, "If you gaze into the abyss long enough, __**the abyss gazes back at you**__."_

_Alfred shivered at the thought as he continued running down the dark uncharted halls of the old city sewers. Next to him Gilbert Beilschmidt ran along steadily, his breath even despite having ran so long. The German Inspector was the one who gave him that quote when Alfred had once tried to __canvass __Arthur who at the time and still was an enigmatic to him. Arthur who was a lone wolf, Arthur who once had a high standing in the PSD department but had fallen from grace, Arthur who stares unwavering into the abyss._

_However Alfred knew that this time it was his fault. He was the one who had lured Arthur here with just a single word, and his heart ached for it. That morning he had woken to an empty apartment and a letter addressed to him in fine cursive from his twin brother._

**_Dear Alfie,_**

**_I'm leaving. Please don't come after me. I wish you best of luck with that Arthur guy, I know he can cause you trouble at times. I'll be now living at the Reverenis District of the city with a man I met named Bonnefoy._**

**_Love,  
Mattie_**

_In hindsight Alfred probably should've seen how suspicious the letter was, Matthew wasn't as brash as Alfred was and wouldn't just drop everything, especially his brother, without really thinking it through. After all Mattie wouldn't give up for the world his upcoming __tutelage__ under a skilled man. He always did have a love for __Archaeology__. In fact, he would've been leaving in a little less than three months for Egypt to an excavation site._

_But Alfred had always been the overprotective one though being the younger of the two twins, and the moment he read that letter he couldn't help but panic. He was quick to ask for help and by coincidence –though perhaps not now that he thought about it- Arthur had been the only other Inspector free that day._

_The seasoned Inspector had at first been reluctant to join Alfred for his cause even at the younger's loud pleading. But as soon as the letter had been presented to Kirkland he fell quiet and without hesitation agreed to __ferret __the situation out with Alfred. Upon reaching the Reverenis District and asking around Arthur had volunteered to enter the sewer system, where the residence had said they saw Matthew and another man enter, saying Alfred should stay behind and call for back up if it was needed._

_Alfred complained of course, but agreed after much persuasion. They set up a communication system and the blue-eyed blonde watched as Arthur entered the sewers._

_Everything went okay for the first few minutes and then suddenly Alfred lost all connection with the other Inspector. He panicked and looked at the monitor that showed where Arthur was and the Inspector's dot moved __**beyond**__ where there should've been a wall on the map. Horrified Alfred kept trying to get in contact with Arthur to no avail. Then suddenly Arthur's dot moved at an extraordinary rate in a straight line as if he got onto a vehicle._

_Later when the rest of the team arrived it was discovered that old subway tunnels ran under these streets. Subways that had long been abandoned and decommissioned. And the reason Arthur and Alfred's communication had been cut was because a jamming signal had been set up in the area._

_So now Alfred and Gilbert were running down one tunnel, Gilbert's younger brother Ludwig and his partner Lovino ran down another with Feliciano and Kiku waiting on top monitoring their movements. However, all communication had been cut until they could find the source of the jamming and destroy it._

_Before long the pair entered a large circular room in which Gilbert commented, "it looked like a large game arena." The "arena" had been stuffed full of painful traps and what looked like dried blood everywhere. Later Gilbert said that it looked more like a hunting arena to which Alfred asked what the prey was and the German fell silent._

_And finally after a long time of searching and avoiding near death in the form of strings that activated falling spikes or bear traps that surely would've take off Alfred's foot, they stumbled upon Arthur._

_He was lying on the ground and for a second Alfred was scared that he may be dead, but then he saw the subtle rise and fall of his chest. However that didn't mean the immediate danger was over because Arthur was also bleeding heavily from several places on his body._

_"__Gunshots," Gilbert said sickened. "Whoever was here was hunting humans down like animals."_

_Alfred paled at the painful looking wounds inflicted by such a primitive weapon. He looked around and in the distance he saw another body. Panic once again spiked through him in fear that the body was Matthew's. He quickly rushed to the fallen figure and he was almost sickened at his sudden relief at the sight of the dead body. It was the figure of an older man that Alfred surprisingly recognized. His name was Roderick Edelstein, a famous professor in the __sociology__ field who preached the evolution of human society by taking it to the next level and cyborgizing the human population that could eventually lead to perhaps one day, immortality._

_The man himself was at least 80% machine and clearly saw himself as superior to everyone in general. But now he was just like any other human being would eventually become._

_Dead._

_Alfred quickly began his __rote__ procedures as Inspector and mindlessly activated his drone pocket where all Inspectors were required to keep tiny drones that would begin to analyze and assess a body. By the way Edelstein as dressed it seemed that he was the hunter in the game, apparently Arthur had gotten hold of his shotgun and shot the man dead._

"Kiku, Feliciano," _a voice suddenly buzzed through his ear communicator._

_"_Ah! Ludwig-san, you've destroyed the jammer then. Good." _Kiku buzzed in from far above them. _"Has anyone found Arthur-san yet?"

_"_I have," _Gilbert said. _"I'm currently giving him first aid he's got multiple bullet wounds from a shotgun and- Hey-!"

_Alfred frowned when there was suddenly a bunch of bumping and rubbing noises coming though the communicator as if Gilbert had removed his earpiece. Then a deep baritone sounded in his ear, _"Alfred."

_Said man gave a start when Arthur's voice suddenly breathed out of his earpiece sounding in pain and out of breath. In the background he could hear Gilbert protesting for the injured man to lie back down but he was ignored._

"Alfred, he was here." _The Brit said quickly, _"You're brother Matthew. And no, he not hurt… Yet." _Alfred shivered at that. _"And there was also someone else here. A man with –_cough- _long blonde hair. He took your brother."

_At that Alfred jumped up eyes wide with fright._

"There should be a doorway near you," _Arthur continued. _"They went through that door."

_Alfred breathed out a quick thank you and threw down his earpiece. He knew that everyone would just try to convince him not to go alone but if he let them do that then the bad guy might escape with his brother._

_He ran faster than ever had before down into an unknown hallway that progressively got darker until in the distance he could see an opening where the dim sewer lights flooded in. Putting on and extra burst of speed he burst out into another round chamber, but this time several metal platforms ran from wall to wall up the entire room's height and there in the distance two figures could be seen walking across one._

_Alfred clenched his Dominator and ran forwards quickly, "STOP!"_

_The two figures on a grated platform above him froze, one was a very frightened Matthew who had both his hands handcuffed and the other was a tall looking white-blonde man who dragged Matthew along with one hand and held a shotgun in the other. The man turned to face the young Inspector and smirked._

_"__Why hello Inspector Alfred Jones," he spoke in a slight French accent. "How nice of you to join us."_

_Alfred growled and quickly pointed his Dominator at the man, "Release your hostage at once."_

_"__Oh?" The Frenchman blinked at him, "And what do you suppose you are going to do with that piece of scrap metal?"_

_"__Release him or I will fire."_

_At that the man started to lightly laugh, his deep voice reverberating around the chamber. "Really? Please go ahead young Inspector. Point your silly gun at me."_

_Alfred felt surprised and his eyes widen a fraction of an inch but quickly schooled his face back into a scowl. He waited for the Heta system to read the man's hue and give him the access to stun him. But to his utter surprise the Dominator called out something completely unexpected._

"Criminal-Capacity at 32. Not suitable for enforcement action." _The Dominator stayed locked in safety mode._

_"__So?" The man called after a few moments of utter silence from Alfred. "Not going to shoot me?" He smirked, "Fine."_

_"__What…?" Alfred's confused voice echoed through the room, "B-but- you're-"_

_"__A perfect citizen?" The man asked mockingly, "Nothing higher than a 50 I'm sure."_

_The Inspector took a step back, "But… Why won't you release him then…? W-who are you? __**What**__ are you?"_

_"__Moi?" The white-blonde man asked. "I am Francis Bonnefoy, at you're service." He smirked and gave a mocking bow. "And I am the epitome of a perfect citizen. At least, in the eyes of the Heta system."_

_Alfred pointed his Dominator at the Frenchman again._

"Criminal-Capacity at 27. Not suitable for enforcement action."

_"__How about we play a game huh?" Francis said. He gave Matthew a harsh tug causing the younger man to cry out in pain, and then he unhooked one of the cuffs and wrapped it around the metal railing of the platform and re-cuffed him. "You see this?" He held up the shotgun, "It's my present to you." Then he tossed it down to Alfred who still had his Dominator trained on the mysterious man._

_Alfred flinched when it landed loudly next to him, his cerulean eyes looked up fearfully at the Frenchman. "W-what? I don't understand."_

_Bonnefoy laughed, "Don't worry. It's an easy game." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out. "This is a knife." He flicked the object and a sharp blade suddenly appeared, it glimmered dangerously even in this dim lighting. "I'm going to kill your brother with it."_

_The words got choked in the younger blonde's throat, even while holding the Dominator in both hands it trembled. "W-What?!"_

_Francis rolled his eyes, "Didn't you hear me? I am going to slit poor Matthew's throat open and kill him."_

_In a panic Alfred pointed his Dominator at him once again._

"Criminal-Capacity at 21. Not suitable for enforcement action."

_"__I-I don't understand!" Alfred cried out tears starting to form in his eyes. "Why isn't you're Criminal-Capacity higher?!"_

_Bonnefoy laughed again, "I told you already. That's not going to work on me. I'm not sure why, but for as long as I've been alive my hue has never read anything above a beautiful pure white."_

_Alfred began to heave; he didn't know how he was going to save Mattie. How could someone threaten to kill someone and still read under criminal-status? He felt backed up against the wall. His brother was going to die if he didn't do anything. And then his foot brushed up against something._

_Alfred glanced down and saw his answer then, the shotgun Bonnefoy had thrown to him._

_Francis saw what Alfred was eyeing and smirked, "There you go. Now you get the idea of the game. If you can shoot and kill me with that gun then your dear brother will be saved."_

_Hesitantly Alfred bent down, his eyes never leaving Francis' cold icy-blue ones. His shaking hand wrapped around the cold handle of the primitive weapon and shakily he brought it up to face the soon-to-be-killer. Now both his Dominator and the shotgun were pointed upwards at the man._

_Francis frowned, "Still using that Dominator? I thought I'd made it clear that wasn't going to work. The only way is to kill me using that shotgun. But be careful, shotguns only hold two barrels, only two shots. And since one was already used to kill Mr. Edelstein I'm afraid you've only got one shot to kill me." He smirked, "But I'm sure as a Inspector you've gotten training in aim right? Now Mr. Jones, show me you're true will."_

_"__True-will?" Alfred echoed._

_"__But of course," Francis said. "That Dominator in your hand has always told you who to apprehend and who to kill yes? None of that is your own will of course. Tell me Alfred, do you know what Dominator means?"_

_The younger man didn't speak._

_"__Well," Francis continued. "In __Etymology__ the world 'Dominator' derives from the Latin root __word 'dominātus' which stands for master. In this age everything is run under the Heta system the 'master' of everything." He ran the blade lightly across Matthew's throat so that a thin trail of blood was left in his wake. Matthew let out a pained whine and struggled against his cuffs._

_Alfred stared at this in horror._

_"__Humans these days can't even be called humans," Bonnefoy continued. "They follow every order the Heta system tells them with no free will of their own. Free will which is such a beautiful thing has been forsaken for the sake of being stupid sheep." His icy eyes flashed dangerously, "That Dominator at this moment is your 'master', in the past humans were the master's of their own guns, since when has those roles been reversed? That is why we play this game now mon-cher Alfred." A smirk. "I enjoy seeing human's enact their own free wills, it is such a beautiful moment when a sheep sheds their wool and becomes a human, master of their own will and not the other way around. Can you feel it Jones? The heavy weight of a life under a single finger. Isn't it wonderful? So Alfred, shall you become a human? Or will you stay a sheep and allow your dear brother to die?"_

_Alfred was utterly consumed by fear at this point, his entire body shook and his breath came out in short spurts. He couldn't let his brother die, his sweet, dear brother. But… He has never killed someone before. Even during his recent start as an Inspector only the other Inspectors have taken lethal enforcement action. He's seen the death of many criminals but has never actually pulled a trigger to end a life himself._

_And now he was expected to do it even when the system he has lived his life following tells him not to._

_"__Better hurry up or poor Matthew is really going to die."_

_Alfred let out a whine and once again pointed his Dominator at the dangerous man hoping the scans have been a mistake this whole time._

"Criminal-Capacity at 14. Not suitable for enforcement action."

_"__Will you really let this system keep you as a sheep forever?"_

"Criminal-Capacity at 9. Not suitable for enforcement action."

_"__Your brother is going to __**die**__."_

"Criminal-Capacity at 3. Not suitable for enforcement action."

_"__And it's going to be __**your fault**__ because you were too __**weak**__ to save him."_

"Criminal-Capacity at 0. Not suitable for enforcement action."

_Alfred let out a shout and closed his eyes, his index finger squeezed down on the trigger and a loud band reverberated around the chamber. The young blonde felt the force of the shotgun push him backwards. His back hit the ground painfully and both guns fell out of his hands._

_He opened his eyes in fear._

_Francis Bonnefoy stared down at him with a look close to disdain._

_He brought the blade up to Matthew's throat who began to struggle even harder._

_Alfred could only stare up helplessly as it played out before his eyes. "No! NO! PLEASE STOP THIS!" He crawled onto his four limbs tears streaming down his face. "PLEASE!" He cried out._

_Francis frowned, "I'm disappointed in you Inspector Alfred Jones."_

_And he ripped the blade across Matthew's throat. Red seemed to drown out everything._

_Alfred screamed._

Sometimes Alfred wonder's why he choose this particular job. His final scores had been high according to the Heta system; he could've gone into practically any field. In the end he choose this over an Ethnology path despite having strong interests in peoples and cultures. He supposed it was a deeply engrained need to save people that led him to it. But in the end, even that didn't work out.

After that whole event not even Arthur, whom Alfred put most of his trust in strangely enough, could educe him from his apartment. His heart was utterly broken into pieces at the loss of his other half. Mattie had been his everything and he had been the one to let him die. If Arthur had been given the choice he would've killed Francis Bonnefoy without hesitation but Alfred… He had been too weak.

It had taken him several weeks to finally imbibe the whole situation. A deep aching feeling of how horrible a person he was refused to leave him even after that. After all, only three day after Matthew's death his Criminal-Capacity hue still read a pretty powder blue as it always has. What sort of monster wasn't affected mentally after the death of his beloved brother?

Alfred rolled over in his bed. His mind still swirling in self-hate and sadness. He felt as if by letting Francis Bonnefoy get away again he had failed Matthew for a second time.

But that was okay. Because he had promised himself at Matthew's funeral that he would ascertain to capturing Bonnefoy.

Even if it cost him his life.

A/N: I feel like this chapter was rushed a bit, like it could've been split into two chapters though being twice as long as the first. :P Oh well, this assignment had to be done so here it is. Hope ya'll enjoyed it! :D

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	3. Chapter 3 -Foreshadowed Madness

Alfred felt himself frown as he stepped into the PSD central command station. His careful eyes quickly zeroed in on his partner.

Arthur looked nearly ragged, large purple bags riding under his eyes giving him a deathly, sunken look. But despite his appearance the man seemed to be throwing himself tirelessly into his work as if possessed by a vengeful spirit. The Brit ran his fingers across his keyboard in a hectic fashion, poisonous green eyes glaring darkly at the monitor. Though probably unaware of the fact all his coworkers seemed to round his cubicle with unwavering precision, avoiding the deranged man at all costs. Other however took to whispering and sending weary glances at the Inspector.

He has been like this ever since the encounter with Francis Bonnefoy.

Alfred sighed, knowing already this was going to be a long day. He shook his head and walked over to the snack counter and tapped in an order for a coffee. He himself felt tired and heavy. It was all because of the recent bout of crazy crime cases that have been popping out from quite literally nowhere. What once were the safe streets of their city Halbru has now been spawning evil and dangerous scum from its depths, and they struck at the strangest times.

The blonde himself had a case file of the first bizarre crime that popped up sitting and waiting for him at his desk. It depicted a woman being beaten to death in the midst of a crowded street. No one stopped to help her and even went as far as stareing and pointed while she was murdered right before their eyes.

Currently the perpetrator was still being looked for.

But these crimes foreshadowed an even darker event. With everything that's been going on, linked one after another, it was quite clear that _someone _was arranging these events. It was just too much of a coincidence that all the loons this city produced decided to wreck havoc at this exact moment.

Which was also why Arthur was acting like one of those said loons.

The fallen Inspector believed deeply that these events were linked to Bonnefoy. And while everyone else thought he was delusional Alfred wasn't ready to pass on the Brit so fast. If anything he wholly agreed with him.

With a coffee in his hands (in a nice new mug that had the ensign of the American flag waving on it) Alfred made his way over to his desk greeting, as he went, the people in his unit. When he came to Arthur the Brit barely spared him a glance before returning to his work. Alfred sighed again.

Once seated the blonde opened the case file and started reading it over.

The woman's name was Kat, a woman from Ukraine. She had been casually walking down the street when a man in a helmet came and knocked her down. Apparently he held her down and began to beat her. This, of course, shouldn't have been possible. Every street, road, walkway, official building, or commercial building came built in with Heta scanners that scanned every person that passed under them. However when the man began beating Kat the scanners showed that he didn't evince any criminal thoughts or intentions. So naturally the PSD wasn't contacted in anyway and the street drones did nothing to help the lady aside from questioning her sudden rise in distress levels as she slowly died.

Alfred's first thought was that the man had been Bonnefoy but that realization was quickly thrown out the window. Francis was a lean and tall man and while the helmet guy had been tall his stature was more wide and muscled than lithe. Then Alfred had wondered if the man was the same anomaly as Bonnefoy but it was later suspected that the helmet had been responsible for the man's low criminal-capacity.

It was distressing however that no one lifted a finger to help.

It was understandable though because the street scanners hadn't signified anything dangerous about the man, everyone assumed that it was safe. When they saw a women get beat to death most had thought that it was just a promotion for a new movie or a stunt to raise awareness. It wasn't till a video was leaked onto the Internet that people began to question the event and the reliability of the Heta system. And while these might seem like meaningless conversation online it was actually more deadly than that.

If people began questioning the system that governed them, the only barrier between a civilized community and complete anarchy, these circulating ideas suddenly took on a much more dark and ominous form.

What was even more disturbing was the fact that _more _people with helmets showed up after the incident and now terrorized the street. It wasn't even safe to go out in some districts anymore.

The worse part was probably that is meant Bonnefoy was right in some ways.

"Yo! Alfred," a heavy body draped itself across his shoulders and the surprisingly pleasant smell of German Paulaner beer invaded his senses. Alfred looked up and gave the other Inspector a glare.

Gilbert grinned lazily down at him; his usual playful and mischievous mien was in place despite the world's current cruel intentions. As per usual the German Inspector found amusement in bothering and annoying pretty much everyone around him.

"Awe, ya' really have'ta glare at me like that?" Gilbert gave him a wounded puppy look. "I promise ya' I'm not up to no good."

Alfred rolled his eyes, "Yeah. Tell that to my last coffee mug. The poor thing never lived past 15 years."

"Are you two just going to chat all day or get something done?" Ludwig called coldly from across the room, his German accent thick with annoyance.

Gilbert looked over to his younger brother and grinned wickedly. "Of course not little bro." He then looked down and winked at Alfred. "I'm always on duty sir. Just like you always are with Feliciano over there."

The little Italian man looked up at the mention of his name with a soft, "Ve?" And Ludwig began sputtering at the accusation.

Alfred and Gilbert grinned at each other.

The two shared a weird sort of camaraderie with one another. They hadn't always been like this. Gilbert didn't exactly like Alfred very much when they first met. Of course the issue that they were on two different level standings also added to the situation.

On one hand you have Inspectors like Alfred or Ludwig. They had high standings in the PSD and were well respected. They were also like normal citizens, they could live anywhere they wanted, they could go where they wanted, buy what they wanted, eat, drink, have fun wherever they wanted. However, for Inspectors like Arthur, Gilbert, even Romano, Feliciano, and Kiku things were slightly different.

The branch they belonged to in the PSD was different from the branch that Alfred and Ludwig belonged to. It was a branched called Enforcer. It was a branch specially made after the Heta system was put in place to help protect not just innocent bystanders but the livelihood of the main Inspectors as well.

Enforces are also people called latent criminals. These people are like the ones that their division apprehends, people with high criminal-capacities of at least 100. Normally they would just be locked and up and end of story but the Heta system found a new use for them. Because of their natural presentiment ability to think like a criminal and their inherent sense of just what their target would do in a situation was better than any piece of technology that could be used. Also, they were the ones normally in charge of actually killing a person if it came down to that.

Because the PSD criminal investigation department often came in contact with unhappy and dark things their high ranking Inspectors seemed to find their criminal capacity going up after a while and they slowly came closer to being a latent criminal themselves.

Gilbert's situation was much the same.

He was once a well-respected police officer in Germany, a detective in his own right. However the placement of the Heta system in other countries quickly changed that. When Ludwig and Gilbert's father had died in America the older sibling was quick to travel to join his baby brother. However America had been one of the first to convert to the Heta system long before either had been born.

It was not propitious for our German cop.

Gilbert had seemed fine at first. They took his first scan in the airport leaving for the American nation and had come out rather high but nothing out the ordinary. The trouble truly began when he discovered what the Heta system actually had in place.

The idea that you could just shoot and arrest or kill anyone on the streets was outrageous to the German cop. And while he wanted to be there for his baby brother the thought that Ludwig lived with and openly accepted a crazed system, especially with a job as Inspector, just sent Gilbert into a spiral to dark and dangerous thoughts. Before long his criminal capacity was up the roof and he lost any right to return to Germany. But because of this previous occupation in criminal investigation the Heta system quickly offered him a promotion to Enforcer.

This was also the reason why Ludwig was so cold to his brother now a day. He was probably disappointed and angry with his older sibling and felt insecure of the same fate befalling him. He was afraid Gilbert's fall from grace would eventually portend to him as well.

Being an Enforcer wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. It gave you benefits and was definitely better than being a latent criminal in one of the city's loony bins trying to lower your hue. However you didn't have many rights. You had to always stay in the PSD building; your home was in there. You had to do everything anyone higher than you said. It was much like being an attack dog of the government, though that had long since stopped being an acceptable term. It still didn't stop people from saying it behind their backs though.

"So Alfie," Gilbert drawled. "Why's grumpy over there acting like the harbinger of Satan?" His motioned to Arthur, "Is he… Performing dark magic or something?"

Alfred let himself snort.

The German laughed and pulled himself from the younger blonde's shoulder.

But Alfred continued to look over at his Enforcer partner. A worried look etched on his face. He had seen this look on Arthur's face before, and it was not an auspicious one at that. Whenever the older Inspector got into one of these moods it meant that something bad was coming. And Alfred had a feeling that they haven't yet seen the worst of Francis Bonnefoy yet.

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	4. Chapter 4 - Patient Evil

"On the count of three…"

Alfred stood with his back against the wall, next to him was Arthur and on the other side of the door was Gilbert. Somehow this situation seemed fairly familiar. The blonde steadied his breath and leaned his head against the cool metal of his Dominator. A irrational fear passed through him from holding the weapon and he had to school himself to calm down. This would be his third field work since the incident with his twin brother and still the feeling of a Dominator still wrought unease within him. Shaking his head Alfred re-opened his eyes just as Gilbert called out a hushed "...three!"

Arthur went first, surging forwards with the speed and precision of what could only be of a veteran his mien foursquare. With thick brows down and scrunched in concentration he burst open the door and charge inside with Dominator steady in his grip.

Gilbert and Arthur quickly followed behind him into the apartment, eyes darting around and taking in the environment around them. There appeared to be no one home however it wasn't abstruse to see that they had their perpetrator. If there millions of photographs of the beaten and murdered Miss Kat wasn't a clue enough then what was? Her picture hung from literally every corner of the room, creepy mannequins stationed here and there had her face stapled to their heads, and possible the most horrifying part was that the man owning this apartment had knives imbedded in nearly every one of her pictures. Each mannequin had cut marks all over them. It was so lucid to see this man's obsession for her. The room was the physical manifestation of his hatred and insanity. It was a wonder how he had escaped notice until now.

"Okay," Arthur's voice cut through the silence and bringing Alfred and Gilbert out of their horribly surprised thoughts. He turned to the young blonde expectantly, "Your orders?"

Alfred frowned giving one last cursory look around the room before calling out, "Gilbert take the bedroom. I'll get the kitchen. And Arthur…" He looked back at the older man, a emotion akin to trust bloomed in his chest.

Arthur nodded, fully understanding of Alfred's tacit trail off and answered, "I will check the bathroom-"

However before he could even finish this sentence the door to that very same room the Inspector called burst open and a man shot passed them from his covert hiding place all making a beeline for the front door. Either by his gut or by some fortuitous happening the oldest Inspector was once again right.

Arthur growled and rounded on the man and chased him out the front door. Gilbert muttered a "damn" under his breath and was quick to follow leaving the more inexperience Alfred standing there in a sense of confusion before settling with a determinate look and following suit.

Out in the hallway Arthur held his Dominator out, pointed at the running man who struggled to put on his helmet. With a pull of his trigger the weapon set to lethal-eliminator mode shot out a bright beam that cuffed the running man in his arm. Almost immediately the limb swelled to a grotesque blob and exploded it's contents throughout the hallway. However the man continued to run as if not noticing his imploded arm.

Alfred flinched at the rain of blood and muscle and continued at his sprint, not wanting to lose distance with this teammates and their target.

"It seemed like he is using some sort of powerful anesthetic," Gilbert expounded to them his voice only slightly out of breath in comparison to Alfred's own. "Something like that should only be taken in small doses in fear of overdose, it should run out soon."

Arthur nodded in understanding.

Together they made their way to the stair, forgoing the building elevator, and chased the man down 14 different levels.

The man's name was Ivan Braginski, the illegitimate brother of Kat. After checking her office buildings and coworkers for any suspicious activity is was soon salient to everybody who the perpetrator was. Around a few months ago Ivan and altogether stopped going to work at his father's company and began staying at home all day. This way he wouldn't be in view of the street scanners and avoided attention that way… That was, until someone gave him access to one of those accursed helmets.

It was later discovered he had the motive as well. The company he and his sister worked at was owned by CEO Winter Braginski, and he overtly gave his children special privileges not open to anyone else. However, because Kat was Winter's eldest heiress she was given things that Ivan, the illegitimate son, was not. And so, a horrible and garbled obsession began to build within the jealous Ivan and was soon turned murderous. Multiple accounts of fellow workers had said Ivan acted "strange" or "questionable" at times in his actions and expressions. Such as following his sister around discreetly, though perhaps not discreetly enough, or mentioning and bringing up the most disturbing things at the most random of times. Even to his fellow co workers the perspicuity of Ivan's insanity was evident.

As of now they just needed to capture the man before he did more damage.

Which is where that god forsaken helmet came in.

It was theorized by their computer's expert Kiku Honda that perhaps the helmet didn't construct a new criminal-capacity for the wearer (which would involve much high-tech and powerful hacking of the Heta system, a feat that was nigh impossible) but instead camouflaged him instead. Everyone had been quite surprised and intrigued by this theory and Kiku was quick to expatiate on the idea.

He said that perhaps the helmet acted as a chameleon. It took the lowest criminal capacity from an immediate area and adjusted and projected that same one to the scanners. This way no complex hacking was involved and a simple solution was found. Which was also why Alfred was here now (aside from being Arthur's partner and there needing to be a high ranking Inspector on the mission commanding the Enforcers) because between he and Ludwig he had the lowest and the most stable criminal-capacity, this way they could test Kiku's theory.

Once on the ground level the group split two ways. Gilbert took to the left and Arthur and Alfred to the right. Now they were traveling down the dark back alleys of the city, a confusing labyrinth of concrete that you had to know by heart to truly travel. Luckily they had technology though because Arthur quickly brought up a map from his wrist communicator. The holographic picture fazed here and there because of the concrete all around them but never shut down. It showed the three of them and their target traveling.

Arthur looked back at Alfred, "Do I have permission to conduct a plan?"

Alfred nodded.

The older Inspector smiled that predatory grin of his as his poison green eyes danced with life and glee. Alfred shivered and was reminded that though Arthur was his good friend and trusted partner he was also a dangerous and intrinsic latent criminal, capable of killing without flinching.

"Alright," Arthur said into his ear piece. "I need crowd control drones deployed to several different locations. First is Rivervine road, block off the main exit to Fountain plaza, I need several to block the entrance to the west side third alleyway on School street, then place…" he continued on, calling out different commands and Alfred watched with amazement as the dot representing Ivan was blocked off at every turn. In his ear, through his earpiece, Gilbert cackled at Arthur's plan.

He was herding Ivan like sheep.

It didn't take long to catch up to the man once he hit a dead end. As soon as they entered that last alley it was patent to the three of them that Ivan's anesthesia was wearing off. The man's breath was labored and came out in little spurts and whines of pain. He clutched his bloody shoulder where his left arm should've been. The pain began to blear his vision and senses.

"Okay Kiku," Arthur spoke into his wrist communicator. "Time to test your theory."

He held up his Dominator and took a criminal-capacity scan of Ivan, "Okay Alfred. Please check your own hue please."

The blonde nodded and looked down at his own wrist communicator and had it take a quick scan of him then and there. He then looked up at Arthur, "It reads at 32 CC."

That same predatory grin spread across Arthur's face, distorting his handsome looks. "Good," he practically purred. "It reads the same."

Alfred almost sighed in relief and took this as a sign to begin walking slowly away, knowing that they had to test the rang of the helmet. He turned and began to walk out of the alleyway, unconsciously counting his steps at he went. When he hit 48 there was a bang and he heard the telltale splat of Ivan's demise from behind him but he couldn't find it in him to turn around.

"It's around a 40 meters radius," Arthur called from behind probably relaying the information to headquarters. "I'm going to take the helmet by hand for further examination."

Alfred, who was also connected to the intercom system heard the chuckle of the reserved Kiku. Obviously the Japanese man was pleased his theory had been correct. It was a huge breakthrough though. Now they could focus on the impending doom of whatever ulterior plan these helmets fell under.

Though in their hearts both Alfred and Arthur knew that the man behind this was one Francis Bonnefoy. Possibly the most dangerous man in the world.

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	5. Chapter 5 - Political Anarchy

The car was silent, yet everything sounded was deafening to Alfred. The atmosphere was thick with tension and madness. They were finally winding down to the last battle. Or so he hoped.

Over the course of the last two weeks, all they have been doing was apprehending criminal after criminal. Crime seemed to surge, as if climaxing towards some horrifying peak. The PSD have never been more in the dark, many units just becoming overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases. You'd have an easier time meeting a murderous scumbag on the streets than an actual citizen. Even under the Heta system's governance anarchy somehow raged wild and untamed.

But there had been a pattern undetected before. One that Arthur had been working tirelessly on. One night Alfred had been called into office along with the rest of his cranky unit only to find that Kiku and Arthur had found something. Sleep quickly forgotten the two genius' of their unit quickly explained their theory.

It seemed that despite all that had been going on, some few places have been untouched by all the madness running amuk. And coincidence or not, one of these places was the HETA Tower, the main broadcasting tower in the country. Like a satellite on land. The tower could send a powerful signal and they feared that all the chaos that had been going on was just a ploy, a distraction, to get into that tower without detection. For what purpose? There were many ideas. Alfred personally believed that they would use the tower the send a powerful signal to block the HETA system's ability to read a person's criminal capacity correctly. Which would spell total destruction for everyone.

Then about an hour ago a stress level spike appeared at the HETA tower. When the security cams had been brought up they saw several men wearing helmets enter the building and quickly dispatching the security guards. At the center of them all a familiar white-blonde man walked casually. A third of the group went to the basement to the archive and a third stayed in the lobby. Bonneyfoy led a group himself up the stairs to the top of the tower.

And anarchy king himself was finally ready to reveal his final hand.

Without hesitation everyone save for Kiku and Feliciano (who would both stay behind and monitor the situation from headquarters) ran for their vehicles and were off at high speed towards the towers.

Which leads us to the car ride in which Alfred sat in nervous tension.

"Calm down Alfie, you're going to wreck the car."

Alfred blinked in surprise and noticed how white his knuckles had been clutching the steering wheel. With an almost sheepish expression he lightened his grip and tried to relax his body. He didn't ease his foot off the gas pedal for the sake of time but he focused on the road more, smoothing out his previous spaztic driving.

He coughed, "Sorry Artie."

Poison green eyes hadn't left his face since they left the PSD headquarters. Alfred supposed the older man worried in his own way about him. After all, the last time they had encountered Francis Alfred had frozen up. The sight of his dead brother refused to leave his head then. Even now, the image threatened to dominate his attention, but he kept it at bay with focusing energy, directed at their current mission.

Arthur took in his partner. He didn't think Alfred knew how innocent he appeared to other people. It was as if someone had stuck a child into a grown man's body. Those bright blue eyes were constantly widening and glowing with every little thing, Alfred didn't look like he could hurt a fly. Some might even call the grown man cute in his mien and actions, of course Arthur would never say that to Alfred's face, if for anything to protect the young man's own pride. No man wanted to hear that they were "cute".

But still… When the incident with Alfred's brother had occurred Arthur had been at a loss. Another thing that he wouldn't admit was that he enjoyed Alfred's company and all the man's childlike antics. It was refreshing to spend time with someone so untainted and pure. And the sheer hopelessness the Brit had felt when Alfred lost Matthew… Arthur felt as if he had lost something as well. The glow that seemed so permanent in the young blonde's eyes seemed to all but disappeared, replaced with something much duller and much more sad. None of it matched the dogmatic boy and Arthur had grieved in his own way for his partner's loss of innocence.

But it had returned. Alfred still came to work everyday. That big goofy smile on and those big shiny blue eyes back. The Brit didn't think he had ever felt more relieved, even if there was an underlying pain and suffering behind those happy smiles.

It was another reason why Arthur wasn't going to stop until he had apprehended Francis Bonnefoy. The man had wronged too many people. He had wronged Alfred. Using his brother as a mere object, something to test Alfred. And when the Inspector had failed this test the Frenchman threw Matthew away like rubbish. For a man who constantly talked about the worth of a human soul, he had very little respect for human life.

"Hey Arthur…"

The Brit turned to his young partner and rose a thick brow. "Yeah?"

Alfred kept his eyes on the road, a steely glint in those sad blue orbs. "I… You are the one person who understands Francis the most. I guess I just want to understand too… But what is the reason why he… why he does all this?"

"To overthrow the HETA system."

"You knew that's not what I mean Artie."

Arthur looked down at the blonde and frowned. He sighed and nodded. "If you want to know something like that. First you must know and understand Bonnefoy's ideals." If you was going to help Alfred understand the art of case filing and finding motives he was going to do this right. No half-assing. "What does Bonnefoy believe in?"

Alfred thought for a moment before answering, "The total annihilation of our current polity?"

Arthur shook his head, "That is his goal. What drives that goal? What is the belief that he is trying to force others into?"

"That… That…" Alfred was at a loss for words.

"Look at it this way," the Brit said. "Francis Bonnefoy is a man who hate everything under the HETA system. Though he seems to have embraced the idea of anarchy, the truth is actually not so clean cut. Francis values autonomy, a sense of self-governance. To him, the idea that the HETA system dominates every aspect of someone's life whether it be what they eat, where they go, what they buy, what job they get, who their life partner is, and so on is the the greatest offence to human prerogative."

Then his poison orbs hardened, "However, do not think for a moment that Bonnefoy is a man of good ideals. That man does not deserve amnesty, not the HETA system, not the government, not the people, and especially not us. For his own offense to human prerogative far outways his own ideals.

Though, Francis Bonneyfoy does sees the Bureaucracy of this nation for what it really is. Just a bunch of decor, with no real use other than to appear pretty and to ease the minds of the general public. Every Investiture is a joke. Delegates appointed to power in America no longer hold any real power. It might seem like they do, but in reality the HETA system also controls every aspect of their lives. Mayoralty is a joke. Even the capital is a joke! What good is a capital when no one does anything other than eat and drink food while they discuss their pointless politics."

Alfred shivered at the barking laughter Arthur released at that last comment. It seemed almost as if the fallen Inspector spoke from his own thoughts, his own mind. But that made no sense, because they were fighting to capture Bonnefoy. Though, the American suspected that this what how you would understand an enemy like Francis. Arthur seemed to have gotten well into the frenchman's head.

"But doesn't he understand the interregnum that would occur if he succeeded?" Alfred asked.

"Of course. He simply doesn't care."

The idea was hard for Alfred to wrap his mind around, how can someone _not care _about people. Though he supposed that he knew first hand experience how little Francis Bonnefoy could care about human life.

"Alfred, when was the last time you read an annal?"

"Uh…" Alfred frowned. "Well considering I'm having trouble remembering what an annal is, the answer is probably... never?"

Arthur rolled his eyes, "Annals are historical records, often they are narratives. I wanted to know if you have read anything in lately about Russia. I know in recent years they probably don't even teach about the Soviets in school do they? It's their way of keeping ideas of government-discontent out of people from a young age."

"I know about the Soviet Union," Alfred replied. "I believe I was one of the last classes to learn about them before they took it out of the curricular."

"Insane, not to teach children that. Especially with all the important history…" Arthur sighed. "Anyways, I wasn't trying to make a specific point about the Soviet Union. I wanted to bring your attention back to when Russia was still made of feudal estates. Each fief would have a lord or baron taking care of it, and the people that belonged to that state. They were bound to loyalty, each serf had liege to their Lord and to their land. Every family would hang a cloth with their master's escutcheon on it. During this time however, there was a practice to kill any child born different than normal."

Alfred looked at him in horror, "That's horrible!"

"Maybe so," Arthur nodded agreeing. "But to them it was necessary. A child born different would feel discontent in their environment. Perhaps they would be useless and feel as such or they would feel isolated and separated from their kin. Anyways, a Lord or Baron would do well to avoid such discontent, because discontent has a nasty habit of spreading. It was just their way of nipping a problem in the bud. They didn't need an uprising against them.

And Bonnefoy's situation is much the same." Arthur continued. "He was born with an ever white criminal hue. Nothing he'll ever do will change that color and so already he is isolated from everyone else. You wanted to know why Bonnefoy does what he does? Well, this is probably why. Can you imagine it? A little boy getting praised for something he has no control over? He is confused and tests it out, only to find that no matter what he does, stealing Mom's jewelry, taking Dad's money, hurting the kids in his neighborhood, nothing changes. On top of that, he is put on a pedestal at a young age because of his extraordinary hue. That kind of stress on a child isn't healthy. He was probably a very lonely little boy.

As he grows he realizes he can get away with anything. People often bring up the question of whether sociopaths are born or shaped. It's a hard question to answer and I doubt any of us will ever get a clear answer. But Francis Bonnefoy is most definitely a sociopath. He may have the right idea of how messed up the government is, but he is also a sociopath that enjoys pain and violence to fill an empty void within him. If he had been born differently, or shaped differently, who knows, then maybe he would still be fighting for the same cause but in a different way."

The pair saw the tower appear in the distance.

"But he didn't," Alfred finished for Arthur. "He choose this path of horror and destruction."

Arthur nodded, "Which is why. No matter how right he is, Francis Bonnefoy will always be wrong. And why we will always work tirelessly to stop him."

And for some reason, Alfred's shaky grip relaxed.

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End file.
